A cabrio coach or semi-convertible is a type of car that has a retractable

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...

, similar to a convertible/cabriolet. The difference is that where a convertible often has the

B-pillar The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the A, B, C and (in larger cars such as 4-door stati ...

, C-pillar and other bodywork removed, the cabrio coach retains all bodywork to the top of the door frames and just replaces the roof skin and rear window with a retractable fabric panel. An advantage of the cabrio coach, particularly for unibody designs is that retaining more of the car's original structure means that

structural rigidity In discrete geometry and mechanics, structural rigidity is a combinatorial theory for predicting the flexibility of ensembles formed by rigid bodies connected by flexible linkages or hinges. Definitions Rigidity is the property of a structu ...

is higher (or the vehicle weight is lower) than traditional cabriolets. If a vehicle's roof includes metal panels as well as the soft-top, it may be considered to be a canvas top design or a fixed-roof vehicle with a sunroof, instead of being a cabrio-coach. These have the advantage that they may be more easily retrofitted to an existing car; it was a factory option (although listed as a separate model) for the

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

up to 1963.

History

This type of roof was popular in Germany in the 1930s, and was found on cars such as the

Citroën 2CV The Citroën 2CV (, , lit. "two horses", meaning "two Tax horsepower#France, ''taxable'' horsepower") is an economy car produced by the French company Citroën from 1948 to 1990. Introduced at the 1948 Paris Paris Auto Show, Salon de l'Automobi ...

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 (, ) is an Economy car, economy / city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975. It was sold as a two-door semi-convertible or saloon car and as a three-door panel van or estate car. Launched ...

, and others. The cabrio coach version of the

Nash Rambler The Nash Rambler is a compact, front-engine, rear-drive automobile manufactured and marketed by the Nash Motors division of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation for model years 1950-1954 — as a sedan, wagon, and notably, a fixed-profile converti ...

was marketed as a "convertible

landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

". Some more modern cars have also featured this roof style, for instance Nissan Figaro,

Citroën Visa The Citroën Visa is a five-door, front-engine, front wheel drive supermini car, supermini manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1978 to 1988 in gasoline and diesel variants. 1,254,390 examples were ultimately manufactured over a single gene ...

Décapotable, Fiat 500 (2007), and the Citroën C3 Pluriel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrio Coach Car body styles

History

See also

References